Ph.D. Theses

This work presents a new experimental approach for precision x-ray spectroscopy of highly-charged heavy ions in a storage ring. lt deploys novel metallic magnetic microcalorimeters (MMCs) at 0° and 180° on either side of the electron cooler of the recently commissioned CRYRING@ESR at the FAIR/GSI facility. [...]

Understanding the properties of strong interaction matter under extreme conditions of temperature and baryon density is a central objective of modern nuclear physics. While the phase structure of QCD at vanishing baryo-chemical potential is constrained by lattice QCD calculations and ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collision experiments at CERN and RHIC, its behaviour at higher net-baryon densities serves as an increasingly active area of experimental and theoretical study. [...]

Astronauts will inevitably be exposed to low doses of ionizing radiation during future space missions, such as the transit to Mars. The effects on the brain and cognitive risks for astronauts are only partially understood, in part due to technical limitations in realistically reproducing the cosmic radiation composition [...]

Clustered DNA damage as one of the hallmarks of ionizing radiation, poses a great risk on the genomic integrity. High frequencies of clustered DNA damage induced by ionizing radiation increase the overall cancer risk. [...]